Fluid delivery pumps are used for a variety of different purposes. Medical fluids are frequently delivered via a peristaltic pump. In medical applications, it is particularly important to control the fluid flow through the delivery tubing. Where medicine or nutritional fluids are delivered through the tubing, it is typically important to control the volume of fluid delivered as well as the rate of delivery. Unintended flow through the delivery tubing can result in inaccurate fluid delivery and can cause health problems for the patient in some cases.
In order to prevent unintended flow through medical delivery tubing, occluders are often used to selectively prevent flow through the tubing. The occluder is opened when it is desired to allow flow through the tubing. Available in-line occluders and the associated systems for allowing flow through the tubing and past the occluder suffer from several problems. One problem is the difficulty for a person to manually prime the delivery tubing in order to remove air from the tubing and fill the tubing with the liquid before using the delivery tubing in a pump to deliver fluid to a person. In-line occluders in particular have been difficult for persons to actuate to manually prime delivery tubing. While the person may load the delivery tubing into the pump and use the pump to advance the fluid, the pump delivers fluid at a slow rate and it can take quite a long time to do so. In emergencies, such a time delay may not be desirable. Additionally, the attending person may begin to perform other tasks while priming the pump and neglect to adequately monitor the pump while priming.
Another problem with occluders is that the actuators or systems used to open a flow passage past the occluder have proven somewhat inconsistent in their performance, and may not open a sufficiently large flow passage to not restrict flow. Restrictions in flow may affect the accuracy of the delivered fluid or the ability to monitor the fluid flow. The performance of available in-line occluders is limited both by the strength and design of the occluder as well as by the design of the actuator element used to create a flow path past the occluder.
Another problem is the reliability of the pump structures used to open a flow channel past the occluder once the occluder is properly loaded into a delivery pump. Prior art structures have been used to create a flow channel past the occluder, but these structures have often worked inconsistently or opened a flow passage which is insufficiently large for proper flow.
There is a need for an improved in-line occluder and actuator system for selectively allowing flow past the occluder. There is a need for an occluder and actuator system which opens a larger flow path past the occluder and which reliably opens and closes the flow path. There is a need for an occluder and actuator system which reliably integrates with a pump, allowing the pump door to open a flow past the occluder when the door is closed. There is a need for an occluder and actuator system which allows a person to manually open a flow passage past the occluder easily and consistently.